Moonlight Shadow
by Skyblaze
Summary: Answer to a challenge on 'The Kittchen' LJ community. Michael returns home from a difficult mission to find he's forgotten an important date - Kitt's birthday.


  
  
**Moonlight Shadow**  
  
_Author's Notes: With (dubious) thanks to Gumnut and Rusti for dragging me (kicking and screaming) back into KR. The song lyrics and title belong to Mike Oldfield_.  
  
It was already late night when Michael pulled Kitt onto the gravel driveway surrounding the Foundation mansion. The air was bitterly cold, and Michael could not quite suppress a violent shiver as he stepped out from the warmth of the car and into the open air. He glanced up at the open sky, the stars were clear and bright and the milky band of the Galactic spiral arm stretched across the velvet throat of night like a jeweled necklace.  
It had been a silent trip home as Kitt was being very quiet. Michael felt almost glad of it, his body felt sore and bruised, and his throat felt as though it had been rubbed down with sandpaper, he didn't feel in the mood for extensive conversation. But even so, he felt a nagging sense that he had forgotten something.  
The human half of the team sighed as he reached into Kitt's trunk to retrieve his overnight bag, glancing at the dash as he did so, seeing the LED's slowly go dark as Kitt prepared to power down for the night.  
Slinging his bag across his shoulder, he reached down to pat Kitt's hood affectionately.  
"Good night, buddy." He said.  
There was no reply. Michael felt a brief prickle of worry. Always before, he had been able to tell when something was seriously wrong - the peculiar 'sense' of Kitt's presence seemed to change when something was wrong. But this time nothing had altered, reassuring Michael that everything should be fine.  
"Kitt?" He tried again, allowing some of the worry he felt creep into his tone.  
"Good night." Kitt said shortly, his tone snippy.  
Michael sighed, fearing the worst. He had much experience with Kitt's 'moods'.  
"What have I done this time?" Michael asked wearily, even as he chuckled internally. A woman on his last assignment had said that he and Kitt acted like an old married couple...perhaps she was right.  
"Have you checked the date?" Kitt asked, his tone still deeply offended. Michael frowned and glanced at the date function on his watch. His heart almost fell through his boots when he saw it.  
"Oh, Kitt. I'm sorry."  
For the past five years, ever since Michael had managed to pry this date out of his partner, Michael had always made a point of doing something special with his partner. After all, it wasn't every day that an AI celebrated his birthday.  
Kitt had repeatedly insisted that computers couldn't have birthdays, right until Michael had managed to get the date that Kitt first came online out of Bonnie. It had been difficult, but Michael had managed to find a gift for Kitt - with a little help from a programmer at MIT - a complex and ever-changing puzzle program that Kitt could use to entertain himself while in car parks...or police impounds.  
Despite the difficulty of finding a gift for an AI installed in a car, Michael had given his partner a gift every year...until now.  
  
"Kitt…" Michael paused. He didn't have a gift for his partner…the only thing he had to give was words. Futile, inadequate words…but perhaps tonight it would just have to be enough.  
Michael positioned himself on Kitt's hood and self-consciously cleared his throat. He'd never really done this for Kitt. He liked to sing, he'd sung often for Stevie and some of his other female friends…but he'd never directly sung for Kitt. He hoped the gesture meant to his partner what he wanted it to. And softly, he began to sing.  
_"Carried away by a moonlight shadow  
All she saw was a silhouette of a gun  
Far away on the other side.  
He was shot six times by a man on the run  
And she couldn't find how to push through  
I stay  
I pray  
I see you in heaven far away…"  
_  
Michael closed his eyes, but in his mind's eye he could still see Kitt's pristine form, bathed in moonlight, looking like some ethereal spirit. They both belonged to the night. Darkness was something they both understood almost too well. They lived in it, fought against it, hid themselves within it…it was a part of them. It bound them.  
  
_"Watched your vision forming  
Carried away by a moonlight shadow  
Star was light in a silvery night  
Far away on the other side  
Will you come to talk to me this night."  
_  
Michael ended his song, feeling tiredness pull at his limbs and eyelids, trying hard to ignore the prickle of tears as he remembered all he'd lost…and celebrated all he'd gained.  
"Michael…" Kitt's soft voice was barely a whisper, but it was a balm to Michael's soul. "Michael, I…"  
"Happy birthday, Kitt." Michael said through the tightness in his throat.  
There was a heavy pause as Michael opened his eyes and cracked a tiny smile.  
"Thank you, Michael." Kitt replied in a subdued voice. Michael's smile became more genuine.  
Yes, his partner definitely understood.

The End

By Janeway


End file.
